This is a good article by Kevin. The Legion Field idea is a horrifically bad one. You can spend that money on LF, and very little will change. Orlando spent 200 million on restoring the Citrus Bowl stadium. That is a true renovation. Of course, you can build a new stadium for less than that.

"That financial package has to include an annual contribution from the city in the neighborhood of $3.5 million a year. That doesn't seem possible if the city dedicates a similar or greater amount each year to the upkeep of Legion Field."

Again, Birmingham's annual budget is $430M. $3.5M/year is less than 1% of the annual city budget!

Could Legion field be turned into something else? Is it structurally sound enough to shelter businesses in an entertainment district? Place a police station in there, a small brick wall around the parking lot, lots of lights and cameras, and a ring of businesses under the stands. If the plan is economic development in a distressed neighborhood, then use the money to bring something that improves the economic development 7 days a week.

(12-05-2017 10:05 AM)GreenMississippi Wrote: Could Legion field be turned into something else? Is it structurally sound enough to shelter businesses in an entertainment district? Place a police station in there, a small brick wall around the parking lot, lots of lights and cameras, and a ring of businesses under the stands. If the plan is economic development in a distressed neighborhood, then use the money to bring something that improves the economic development 7 days a week.

This is a great question. Is it structurally sound? Should it be condemned rather than renovated? I would love for a structural engineer to analyze it. AttallaBlaze, what do you think?

Birmingham has the World Games coming in just a few years, and it will be here fast. They need to do something to facilitate those events. I know Jonathan Austin had purpose lightrail a few years ago, now he is gone and nothing has been said in a couple years about it.

Just wondering, since we don't seem to control the stadium situation in any way, if they were to bandage up LF, would a light rail route from campus to the stadium help in any way???

This argument between the old and a new is so tiring, I just wish something would happen and we could move on. Otherwise we will always be in limbo, and that sucks.

(12-05-2017 11:11 AM)hooverblazer Wrote: What baffles me is that Parker represents the neighborhoods directly north of Uptown that would stand to gain the most from the Uptown stadium. Legion Field isn't in his district.

If this ends up being the city's final decision, we need to seize on our increased fan & business support and push for the OCS again. We're in a much different position than we were in 2011. Football foundation, much heavier business support, record attendance, etc. You can also show how the investment in the practice facility provided a great ROI and how the OCS would do the same.

Some of you do know that some private sponsors are already tapped out from supporting the football operations building and funding the return (sorry #TheReturn)? fans and boosters may be close to the end of the 5 year pledge. Where are we gonna get funding for a stadium if the trustees AND our fearless president won't even entertain the university putting up bonds to fund a stadium?

Only way we could do OCS is the same way we did the practice Facility. A lot of folks are tapped out. Maybe we could pull it off? IDK. It would take some time. certainly a longer time line that what we need right now. Right now our best bet is the BJCC facility. If this dies then we go to plan B.

(12-05-2017 11:18 AM)Blazerstadium Wrote: Birmingham has the World Games coming in just a few years, and it will be here fast. They need to do something to facilitate those events. I know Jonathan Austin had purpose lightrail a few years ago, now he is gone and nothing has been said in a couple years about it.

Just wondering, since we don't seem to control the stadium situation in any way, if they were to bandage up LF, would a light rail route from campus to the stadium help in any way???

This argument between the old and a new is so tiring, I just wish something would happen and we could move on. Otherwise we will always be in limbo, and that sucks.

You'd need about a mile to a mile and a half, depending on where on campus you located the station. That's probably $50 to $75 million, making a really raw guess (recent costs have been $43 mill/mile in Norfolk to $205 in Milwaukee). Some expenses would be on the high end since you're not able to spread the cost of the rolling stock over a larger system, though the land should be mostly condemnable.

I love light rail, but it's probably more realistic to build a walkable greenway from campus to Legion Field, connecting to Railroad Park and on to Sloss.